President Milos Zeman praised US President Donald Trump’s plan to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The same move should be made by the European Union and the Czech Republic, he said today. Trump on Wednesday announced that the US would recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel. The Czech Foreign Ministry then said that the Czech Republic can only consider transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after negotiations with key partners.

Trump has instructed the US Department of State to draw up a plan to relocate the Embassy. Despite international criticism, he also announced that it was time for the US to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “I’m very happy because when I was about to visit Israel for four years, I said I would very much appreciate if the Czech Embassy had moved to Jerusalem,” Zeman said today.

The Czech president also said that the embassy in Jerusalem should also move the EU. The transfer of his embassy to Jerusalem did not exclude Russia. On the contrary, criticism has prompted Trump’s move mainly in the Arab countries, but also with the representatives of Germany, France, Britain and the European Union. Jerusalem, the historic center of Palestine, considers Israel as its metropolis.

Palestinians call for their future state as the capital city of East Jerusalem, but Israel has occupied Israel in 1967. Long-standing city disputes are a frequent detonator in mutual relationships.
According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, the Czech Republic considers Jerusalem as the future capital city of Israel and Palestine. “We can only think about moving the Czech Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem based on the results of negotiations with key partners in the region and the world,” he said on Wednesday. In September, diplomacy chief Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD) said coordination is necessary, among other things, with Israel itself and the Czech Republic, so far, the move of the embassy to Jerusalem is not planned.

The Czech political scene divided Trump’s decision. Representatives of the ODS and the Freedom of Direct Democracy (SPD) movement, which CTK has addressed today, have evaluated the move positively. According to SPD chairman Tomio Okamura or ODS deputy Jana Černochová, the Czech Republic should follow the United States. TOP 09 vice-chairman Marek Zeníšek wrote in CTK’s reaction that the situation in the region would be complicated. KSČM Chairman Vojtěch Filip strongly criticized Trump.